Thursday, December 5, 2013

If you want to shop for Christmas, alleviate poverty, and stop human trafficking

At this year’s Catalyst Conference, I came across the
Worldcrafts exhibit and was immediately drawn in. According to their brochure,
Worldcrafts operates under Fair Trade Federation standards and seeks to help
women and men around the world to “earn a living with dignity and escape the
grip of poverty.” Their parent organization, WMU, is engaged in the fight to
stop human trafficking. Their mission statement declares they want to “involve
Christians in understanding and becoming radically involved in the mission of
God.”

Without realizing it, I’d already made a purchase from them
some time ago. On a mountain retreat, I came across some of their fair trade
products in a gift shop, and purchased a lizard made in Kenya from strips of
soda cans for my wildlife biologist to-be son as well as jewelry for my
daughter made in a far-flung place.

I also made a few purchases at Catalyst and received their
Christmas catalog a few weeks ago.

As I thumbed through the pages, I took a tour of how people
around the world see the Nativity, for among the offerings in the catalog are
handcrafted sets made in places like China, Bangladesh, and Kenya. I
thought of the beloved Alfred Burt carol, “Some Children See Him.”

The stories of Worldcrafts artisans stir my heart. At 80
years of age, a basket maker in Kenya accepted Christ for the first time. In
Yunnan China, women who work all day in the fields only make $36 a year.
Through Worldcrafts, they’re able to use their embroidery skills to make $12 a
month.

Worldcrafts is not paying me anything to write this, but if
you’re looking for unique gifts, the purchase of which will make a real
difference in someone’s life, please check them out.

Cause no matter what color Jesus seems to you, helping
families feed their children, or saving a young girl from human trafficking is
what true religion is all about.

“Real religion, the kind that passes muster
before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their
plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world” (The Message James1:27)You may watch a short overview of the Worldcrafts mission here.

“Watch for me,” my then ten-year-old sister, Tammy, said as she headed out to the basement of our childhood home to retrieve some ...

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About Bev

Beverly Varnado is an award winning novelist,screenwriter, and blogger. Her screenplay, GiveMy Love to the Chestnut Trees, has been a finalist for the Kairos Prize and is now under option with Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures. Her novels are Home to Currahee and Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees, which placed in the top ten for Christian Writer's Guild Operation First Novel. Her blog, One Ringing Bell, is now in itsseventh year with almost seven hundred posts. Her work has been featured on World Magazine Radio, The Upper Room Magazine, and she was recently featured in Southern Distinctions Magazine as one of seventeen authors writing about Georgia.Find out more at www.BeverlyVarnado.com

Why "One Ringing Bell?"

From Ezekiel 28:33-35, "Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers." The pomegranates symbolize the word of God and the bells, the going forth of that word. As the sound of the bells was heard when the priest, Aaron, ministered, my desire is to ring out the word wherever and whenever possible--to be "One Ringing Bell."